Same Time Next Year
by thethirteenthdoctor
Summary: Two young men. The last of their kinds. Waiting. One for a love, the other for a friend. One ages, one doesn't. Neither quite human. Waiting. A friendship that lasts thousands of years. Two millennium dragging on. It is possible to subsist upon reminiscence for only so long. Yet neither Amelia Pond nor Arthur Pendragon shall rest alone. An ancient vow, two thousand times honored.
1. The Wanderer

Merlin wandered for a long time.

It had been a few years since Arthur's d- never mind. Merlin had decided that he couldn't- he couldn't- stay by that infernal lake any longer. It hurt too much. He thought that Arthur would have wanted him to go, too. Arthur was- had been- that kind of person.

So Merlin left the lake, knowing that if- when- Arthur 'returned', Merlin would probably get some magical alert that it happened. No destination in mind, for he had no purpose in life, he wandered.

Merlin wandered for a long way.

He travelled through forests and valleys and glens, avoiding Camelot. In his wanderings, he saw the changes that he and Arthur had made together, the people that were alive and happy thanks to them. That hurt him too. Arthur should have been there with him, seeing the good that they had done.

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><p><strong>AN: This is just a tiny chapter to start off the story. I'll probably update later tonight!**

**I got the idea for this from a fanart/comic thing from Tumblr. I made it the profile pic, so creds for the idea go to whoever drew it!**


	2. The Stones of Nemeton

Eventually, he found himself wandering across a misty moor. On the hill before him sat the Stones of Nemeton. He wondered why he had come here. Then, after realizing the obvious reason for his coming here, he wondered if it was actually possible. He no longer had the Horn of Cathbhadh… yet perhaps he had the power within himself to speak with the spirits of the dead there? He wished Gaius was with him, as he had many times in the previous few years. Gaius would hit him on the back of the head and tell him to pull himself together and no, Merlin, you can't do the ritual without the horn, you may be powerful but you're not a god. But Merlin had to try, didn't he?

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><p><strong>AN: So much writer's block lately! I will hopefully be posting more often in the future, as I now have a laptop!**

**I'll update this story later today. I'm trying out posting really short chapters just for effect.**

**R&R!**


	3. Armour and Skirts

The warlock approached the stones. When he reached the top of the hill, he saw a man sitting on a stone near the center of the circle. The man seemed to be wearing a broom on his head. The broom-hat man looked up at Merlin, who could now see that this strange man was also wearing even stranger bronze armor, some sort of sandals, and a skirt.

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><p><strong>AN: The chapters will be getting longer from here on out! Again, I'm so sorry for all the gaps in updates. Writer's block is a terrible thing. But PLEASE, PLEASE review! Thoughts and ideas are welcomed on all my stories!**


	4. A Roman

"Hello?" greeted the broom-helmet (yes, it was a helmet that the red broom was attached to, Merlin decided) man, seeming more than a little bit unsure.

"Hello," Merlin responded. If Arthur were there, he would have punched Merlin in the shoulder for being polite to a potential enemy. Honestly, Merlin would have been alright with the sore shoulder if it meant Arthur being there. "Am I… interrupting something?" he continued cautiously. "I can go, if you like…" Yes, Arthur definitely would have punched him.

"No, it's fine!" said the man quickly. "Actually, if you'd like to stay and chat, that would be kind of great. I don't get much company. Besides, to come to a place like this alone, without a horse, you must have a story to tell, and probably no one to tell it to."

That was true. Merlin walked toward the broom-helmet man and sat on a stone facing him. The man had a kind face that seemed slightly confused just in general, and a fairly prominent nose.

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><p><strong>AN: The number of Doctor Who/ Merlin crossovers is really very sad. Maybe these will become my specialty, and I can expand the listings :)**


	5. A Thousand Years

**A/N: A longer chapter for you, By request of the lovely Lilac Winters21 (and mainly due to the fact that it just ended up being a naturally longer scene.**

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><p>"What's your name?" the warlock asked.<p>

"Rory," replied the broom-helmet man. "You?"

"I'm Merlin."

"Merlin?" Rory sounded disbelieving.

"Yes... Is there something wrong with that?" Merlin mentally scolded himself for getting testy with the nice broom-helmet man named Rory.

"No, not at all. Where are you from, Merlin?"

"I was born in Ealdor, but I lived in Camelot for several years." Merlin's mental Arthur scolded him for telling the strange man about his origins. Merlin told his mental Arthur to shut up. The strange man was nice, and his name was Rory, a name which Merlin liked.

Rory's eyebrows rose. "Now you're pulling my leg."

"What?"

Rory laughed. "Merlin, from Camelot, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"Did the Doctor put you up to this?"

"I… don't understand. Do you mean Gaius?" Merlin was incredibly confused.

"You're really into this, aren't you?"

"Look, Rory, I honestly have no idea what you're talking about."

Rory stopped laughing. "Wait… You're really serious, aren't you?"

Merlin thought that maybe Rory was even stranger than he seemed. "Yeah."

"You're Merlin."

"Yeah. Wait… are you supposed to kill me? Did someone send you to kill me?" Merlin couldn't fathom why any of his enemies would hire such a silly-looking assassin.

"No! No, why the _hell_ would anyone have told me to kill you? I'm just… trying to understand if you're actually _the _Merlin."

"Well, I don't know about _the_ Merlin, but I'm the only Merlin I know of."

"Are you, like, a sorcerer and everything?"

Merlin jumped and looked around furtively. Rory probably thought it was really funny. "How do you know about that?" he hissed.

"So you are a sorcerer!" Rory laughed. Rory apparently laughed a lot. Or perhaps he simply hadn't had much reason to laugh for a very long time.

"Yes," the warlock said with a hint of finality.

"Are you King Arthur's advisor? Or is that later? You're rather young."

Merlin adopted a carefully closed expression, which reminded Rory of the Doctor's face when he was reminded of the Time War.

"I was Arthur's manservant," Merlin began quietly, after a pause. "He's- he was- my best friend."

Rory's brow furrowed. "So he… you know…"

"He's dead." A solitary tear made its way down Merlin's face. "But a… a dragon told me that one day, he'll rise again, so… I'm waiting." Merlin clenched his fists, more tears falling. "I just have to _wait here _for _years_ for my _prat_ of a best friend to _come back from the dead_ and I don't know what the _hell _I'm supposed to do!" He took a moment to stop crying, and when he looked up, Rory's face was wet, to his surprise.

"My… my girlfriend," Rory began, in response to the look Merlin gave him, "my… fiancé, the love of my life… she died. It was the _day of our wedding,_ and we ran away with the Doctor, and then she _died_, and I… I killed her." He started to sob. "_I killed her._ I didn't want to, of course I didn't want to, I tried not to, I…"

"I'm sorry," Merlin said softly.

"And now, now she's in that _damn box_ healing and I have to stay here and guard her for _two thousand years!_"

"Two thousand years?"

"Yeah. Well, it's been around a thousand already." Rory gave a sad laugh. "I guess we're in the same boat, Merlin, you and me."

"Yeah." Merlin paused. "I… don't suppose you'd like some company?"

Rory smiled sadly. "I'd love it."

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><p><strong>AN: DO YOU HAVE THE FEELS?**

**What did you think?**


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